Summer Mantel

My Summer mantel is up and ready. That makes me SO happy! :)
I went for a very plain easy mantel this time, after taking down the busy one I made for Spring.

Let me tell you, I don't live near the water, but looking at this sailboat above the mantel gives me the feeling of living in a beach house.

Well, perhaps a little bit. ;)

I want to show you how the sail boat art was done so you can create your own, it's not that difficult.

The same board used for the Love Art sign was the base used for this project, or you can use a plain piece of plywood.

A piece of ¼" plywood was used to create the hull or the body of the boat.

Trace your lines for the boat on the piece of wood, it doesn't have to be perfect.
Using a regular saw, follow those lines (the wiggly lines disappeared while cutting it), since it's ¼" material, the cutting goes fast.
Sand those rough edges and give the bow that nice rounded shape.
You can paint it, stained it or leave it like that. I gave it a light grey washout.

The main sail and jib are made out of drop cloth material. Their measurements are totally up to you on how big or small you want your sail boat to be. Cut two triangles, one bigger than the other and remember to take advantage of those corners, they are already hemmed ;)

A small tree branch made the perfect mast for this project. Attach screw eyes (four), onto the branch.

Now it's the time to put it all together. First, Attach three screw eyes to the top edge of the boat, both ends and center.

Use mounting tape to attach the boat onto the board.

Drive two small nails through the middle of the branch (picture below), to set the mast in place.
Push holes on every corner of the sail and jib, using jute rope tie them in place through the screw eyes.

You can give the sail a special treatment. My daughter helped me with some red stripes.

You are so darn creative Cristina! Have I said that before? I think so. Your little sailboat art is very, very cute and clever. Where do you come up with your ideas? I love it. Also love the blue bottles and purple hydrangeas, they're lovely. Where did you find the garland? It all looks very nice with the blue pillows too. What a nice place to hang out! Well done, as always.

My poor heart. It's just dying to have a seat in one of those chairs. So many things. The sailboat- I will definitely make one. It's just too stinkin' cute! And the garland- I'm swooning! I am loving those coral printed pillows too! I just had a floor pouf made for my son's room in a similar fabric. I'm dying to get some of the fabric in the other rooms of the house. I applaud such good taste! lol.

This is simply stunning work! I love the red and white stripes, especially beside those blue bottles. Girl, you know how to diy and decorate! Pinning this to my "Hang it All" board because this one piece of diy artwork I don't want to fuggetabout. ;-)

Love this! I am going to have the Grandkids help me collect all the materials, including the wood to make the main background. Then we can hang 'our' project in the beach house for them to enjoy for years to come. Thank you for this bit of inspiration. "Making Memories" is always fun.